Scout Labs scores $4M in funding for brand-management tools

October 20, 2009 1:24 PMPaul Boutin

Sentiment analysis sounds like another bogus term being thrown around by social media consultants. But Scout Labs’ dashboard, which shows brand managers how everyone on the Internet is feeling about their product or service at the moment, has convinced venture capitalists that there’s a market for social media analysis tools that really work. Scout Labs has announced a $4M round of funding. The round was announced a few weeks ago, but only now has the amount come out.

Scout Labs says its tools can be used by anyone. “This is not a wonky research tool used by a few sole practitioners,” Scout Labs CEO Jennifer Zeszut said in an email. “You choose ScoutLabs if you want the entire organization to tune into the voice of the customer — the mind of the market — and if you want to build better products and stronger customer relationships every day.”

Easy for a Valley CEO to say, but Zeszut lists Coke, Netflix, McDonald’s, HP, Microsoft, and Disney as customers.

Pricing starts at a hefty $99 per month, but that price includes up to 5 simultaneous connections to Scout Labs’ servers. Bigger enterprises can buy as many connections as they’re willing to pay for. All pricing levels get the same features, listed here by Scout:

“Persistent searches: Refine them & change them as often as you like without fees or other charges